Pope Francis: "Church Should Apologize To Gays And Other Marginalized Groups"

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM ARMENIA (CNS) -- Catholics and other Christians not only must apologize to the gay community, they must ask forgiveness of God for ways they have discriminated against homosexual persons or fostered hostility toward them, Pope Francis said.

"I think the church not only must say it is sorry to the gay person it has offended, but also to the poor, to exploited women" and anyone whom the church did not defend when it could, he told reporters June 26.

As a reader wrote to me today: "There has never been one time- NOT ONE- that the Catholic Church has been mean to sodomites." (Unless calling heterosexually-challenged individuals 'sodomites' or 'homosexuals' is considered mean. The term 'sodomy' is even used as a legal term on the law books, like 'sodomize'. Sheesh!)